Dark Cloud 2 Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

Dark Cloud 2

Review by TogerJuly 2003

I think I finally found the perfect RPG … it’s not dark, depressing or brooding. Nor is it just a random combat clickfest. There’s almost no religious overtone, nor is there any political intrigue.  And the people of the land don’t hate you. Let the dancing begin!  Oops, I got a little ahead of myself—let me back up and start from the beginning …

Dark Cloud 2 is the newest RPG from Sony. It’s the sequel to the much-loved Legend of Zelda knock-off, Dark Cloud.  The hero of the original Dark Cloud looked so much like Zelda’s Link he even had a funny little outfit and pointed ears! I played some of the original Dark Cloud and had issues with it that made me stop playing … Always having to deal with keeping your thirst at bay was one. (Nothing ruins a fun day of kicking demon butt like having to stop the action, climb back out of the dungeon and locate a bottle of water!) And the truly annoying fact that not only could you break your weapon after building it up but it would disappear once it was broken and you’d be left with your original weapon … weak and ineffectual against enemies as you made your way deeper into the dungeons.  Not my idea of fun.

In Dark Cloud 2, Sony has fixed those issues and made the game much more enjoyable. Thirst is no longer a problem unless a critter inflicts that condition upon you, and weapons no longer vanish when broken. Instead, broken weapons now are simply ineffective against monsters until they’ve been repaired.

As some English guy once said, “the play’s the thing.”  Dark Cloud 2 is an epic tale of adventure that spans the long-distant past, the present and the future. It covers lost love, abandonment, revenge and a true understanding of why people are afraid, rightly so, of clowns. Clowns are evil, but I digress.

Our story begins in the future when Monica’s father is mysteriously attacked and killed. Quick jump to the past, and we’re strolling with Maximillian, boy inventor and only son of the richest man in town. Max scores a ticket to the circus, where he overhears the ringmaster, Flotsam, threatening the mayor of Palm Brinks.  Max is spotted eavesdropping, and the chase is on with all manner of circus-related henchmen in hot pursuit. With a little help from an oversized monkey wrench, Max holds his own and escapes.

Max learns that the evil Emperor Griffon is out to rid the world of humans by destroying all of their accomplishments. In order to defeat Griffon, Max and Monica will need to rebuild the origin points of those achievements so that the future is returned to its prior state.

In all honesty, Dark Cloud 2 is a difficult game to classify.  It’s mainly an RPG, which involves the standard dungeon-crawling, battling of monsters, upgrading weapons and running the ever-popular FedEx quests for the local townies, but there’s a huge difference from other games in this genre. It’s fun and has a lot more going on than your average console RPG.

Along with the dungeon crawl, there’s world-building, fishing, photography, an invention system, fish racing, fish breeding and Spehda. What, pray tell, is Spehda? Golf. (Are you laughing hysterically yet?) Spehda is presented as a way to correct distortions in the space/time continuum, but it’s really … golf. Before you throw your hands up in disgust and go back to watching TV, let me tell you that it’s not necessary to do everything in order to complete the game. You’ll only need to fish twice and play Spehda once to advance the story. The rest of the time, playing Spehda is a way to get access to specialty items, like advanced weapons, and the fishing simply bleeds out all of that excess adrenaline after combat.

The photography portion goes hand-in-hand with the invention system—you take a picture to start a germ of an idea, then put three pictures together to come up with an invention. Throughout the game, Max will come across notes, books and posters that will list three items, so you’re not left twisting in the wind trying all of the available permutations. The invention system literally is used to invent just about any object used by Max and Monica, including weapon upgrades and health items. For the most part, I only used the invention system for some advanced weapons not available through normal upgrading. Why invent when I can shop?

As you progress through the game, you’ll be called upon to travel between the present and the future to set things right. This is where the world-building comes into play. To correct the future, you’ll need to locate a georama stone, found in most floors of the dungeons. The stones contain the information needed to create the origin point—buildings, trees, accessories and conditions that must be met in order to fix the future. Conditions necessary in the rebuilding will vary from location to location. What’s necessary to rebuild Sindain won’t be the same when it comes time to remake Heim Rada.

One of things that sets Dark Cloud 2 apart from other RPGs is the lack of an actual “party” system of play.  Instead of directing two or more people at once, you’ll only control one person at any one time. As a matter of fact, the only times you’ll see Max and Monica onscreen at the same time are during the numerous cutscenes. During the real-time combat, you can switch between Max and Monica at will, either using the main menu or the R3 button. I loved this method, as I could swap out Max for Monica when her sword did more damage than his wrench. Any NPCs that join your little soiree are used as support characters, simply supplying boosts to stats or repairing equipment, and not as combatants.

As you wander the various dungeons, you won’t get that annoying “take-three-steps-combat-take-three-steps-combat-take-three-steps …”  ad nauseam usually found in console RPGs. Instead, critters are scattered throughout the dungeon, and you’ll see them appear as red dots on the dungeon map as you enter a particular room. Dungeon floors are cleared once you’ve killed off everything on that floor.  Once you leave that floor, the creatures and treasure chests will respawn, but in most cases it’s not necessary to travel those floors again unless you’re pumping your stats.

While rebuilding the origin points of each location, you can save at any time at any one of several glowing pink save points—each location sports at least two save points; the town of Palm Brinks has five. Saving in the dungeons occurs just prior to entering each floor or once you’ve completed a floor. You can choose to leave the dungeon at any time; however, if you haven’t cleared out all the monsters, you will incur the penalty of losing half of all the gildas you’ve collected so far.

Gameplay is somewhat linear. This isn’t a “wander where you will, do what you want” kind of game. You’ll definitely need to rebuild origin points to near completion before you can move on to the next location. On the other hand, I was able to rebuild only 90% of Balance Valley before moving on to the next town.

Each dungeon has its own unique decor and music … the sea caves of Veniccio are huge echoing caverns flooded with ankle-deep water.  Moisture drips from the ceilings, and sea mist fills the air.  Here you’ll battle long-dead pirate captains, trident-bearing Medusa-like sea slugs and snapping sea turtles. In Starlight Canyon, home to walking stone golems, crazed cudgel-toting elves and evil circus performers in flying masks, the sunlight is so bright during the day I kept reaching for my sunglasses. While battling though the belly of Mt. Gundor, you can feel the searing heat of the volcano as you wander along paths tucked between rivers of flowing lava.

Music is as varied as each dungeon and location. The types of music run the gamut from a jaunty little French accordion ditty in Palm Brinks and medieval flutes and drums in Mt Gundor to Celtic Yanni/Enya/New Age melodies at Stonehenge and jazzy speak-easy tunes while battling one of the level-end bosses.

Dark Cloud 2 simply is a gorgeous game! We’re talking bright, bold, beautiful colors and fluid cel-shaded animation.  As the sun marches across the sky, shadows will lengthen and change position. The sunrises and sunsets on the coast of the world map were breathtaking. There were times I stood in wonder as the sun slowly dipped into the far horizon. Water rippled when droplets hit water surfaces and bubbled realistically as it flowed from great heights. Even the level bosses were brilliantly colored.  No dull, drab, lifeless evil in this world! Characters are animated in more of a Disney style rather than the Japanese look you’d normally expect in a console RPG, although the two main characters, Max and Monica, do have that long-legged anime appearance.

What really knocked my socks off was the attention to detail as the action changed from player-controlled to cutscene. In most RPGs, the look of a weapon will change as it’s built up, but you’ll only see that change as you wield the weapon during combat. Dark Cloud 2 goes one step further. Not only will you see the changed weapon in player-controlled areas such as combat, but the alteration will carry though to subsequent cutscenes as well.

Surprisingly, there’s quite a bit of voice work in DC2. And it’s very well done. Most RPGs will use voiceovers for the cutscenes, but in Dark Cloud 2 there’s also vocalization while fighting, sustaining damage, dying and lifting heavy objects. And that’s just from the main characters! As you take on various monsters, some of them will voice their objection to being pummeled. Conversations with NPCs are text-based, unless it involves a cutscene. All conversations, including cutscenes, are subtitled.

I have to tell you … Dark Cloud 2 consumed me for a solid month. It was the only game I played. The game clocked me at 60+ hours at the end of chapter 7 (the eighth and final chapter is considered a bonus level), and that didn’t include the few times I had to redo a dungeon level because both characters died. This game made me laugh out loud and gasp in astonishment.  When an end level boss made the “bring it on” gesture with his hand, I almost blew the battle I laughed so hard.

Dark Cloud 2 has a great story, lots of adventure, unique characters and monsters and Spehda! What’s not to love? This one is a keeper! The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Sony Publisher: Sony Release Date: March 2003

Available for: PlayStation 2

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.